EV life isn’t without its adjustments. Some, like never having to go to the gas station again because you can charge at home, are great. Others, like having to plan a road trip like you’re traveling from Kansas City to San Francisco in the mid-1800s, are annoying. You may not know it, but an EV is like the smartphone in your pocket. Eventually, the battery in both loses some of its capacity.

The battery in an EV may be larger, but it’s essentially the same as the one in your smartphone, laptop, and other electronic devices. While your smartphone delivering fewer hours of range per day for a few years may be a minor inconvenience, a vehicle that loses range over the same amount of time is a much bigger headache. But there is a way to ensure that the battery pack of an EV with 250 miles of range on the showroom floor can still go that distance for years to come.

One of the biggest selling points of modern electric vehicles is how fast they charge. With charging speeds of over 150kW, EV owners will no longer be stuck at charging stations for hours on end during a road trip. It brings EVs closer to parity with gas-powered cars during pit stops. But that fast charging comes at a price.

The faster a battery is charged, the faster it begins to degrade. If an EV owner only charges at Tesla Supercharger DC fast charging stations, the vehicle’s long-term range will decrease much faster than if that vehicle were charged more slowly.